The Vivo V40e was launched in India towards the end of September and is the most affordable option in the range, which also includes the standard V40 and V40 Pro. Therefore, I believe the “e” in the name means “economical”, but I bet Vivo would disagree with me. The V40e is a mid-range smartphone whose main selling point is its design and the claim that it is the thinnest smartphone with a 5,500 mAh battery. Vivo also claims that the phone is a pro at taking portrait photos thanks to Aura light.
At a starting price of Rs. $28,999, the Vivo V40e seems like a good deal for someone who is specifically looking for a phone with a large battery, slim design, and taking lots of portrait photos. Yet is this the case? Read on to find out.
Vivo V40e design: visually pleasing
- Dimensions – 163.7 × 75 × 7.49 mm
- Weight – 183g
- Colors: mint green, royal bronze.
You get a sleek and stylish phone as advertised. The Vivo V40e is just 7.49mm thick and looks slimmer thanks to the curved edges on the front and back. The corners are rounded and you get a shiny plastic frame. The top and bottom are flattened, however. You’ll also find the pill/keyhole shaped camera module with the top oval sticking out and the bottom unit flush with the Aura Light LED on the back. We looked at the Royal Bronze unit, which has a matte-finish plastic back panel and doesn’t feature any patterns. The panel is prone to fingerprints and scratches, however, so it’s best to protect the phone with a case.
The phone is only 7.49mm thick despite having a 5,500mAh battery
The phone has the right weight and it feels like it costs more than it costs. The right edge houses the volume and power buttons. There’s a microphone, speaker, SIM tray, and USB Type-C port on the bottom, while the top houses another microphone. The V40e also gets an IP64 rating and I found a rubber gasket inside the SIM card tray.
Vivo V40e screen: large and curved
- Size – 6.77 inches, Full HD+ resolution
- Type-AMOLED, 120 Hz
- Protection – SCHOTT Xensation Up lens
On the front, the phone has a large screen with curved sides. Aside from making the phone look thinner than it actually is, the curved sides also make the side bezels appear thinner. The glasses are also uniform at the top and bottom. The panel is very bright for indoor use and it is also usable outdoors, provided it is not a very bright day.
The display supports a 120Hz refresh rate
As for the refresh rate, the display supports up to 120Hz with a Smart Switch option also available. You can also switch between 60Hz or 120Hz. The display supports HDR10+ and offers three color modes: Standard, Professional, and Bright. An SGS low blue light certification is also available on the phone. All of the above makes the Vivo V40e’s screen a great option for watching content and playing games.
The in-display fingerprint scanner is low
The display also offers an in-display fingerprint scanner which, aside from a few failed attempts, was quick and worked well during my use of the phone.
Vivo V40e software: smooth but bloated
- Operating system – Android 14
- User interface – Funtouch OS 14
- Latest security patch – October 1
The Vivo V40e runs Funtouch OS 14 based on Android 14 out of the box, and I received several updates during the review period. Vivo has promised to provide three years of operating system updates and four years of security patches. The software experience is similar to most of Vivo’s other mid-range smartphones. You get a lot of third-party apps right off the bat, but luckily these can be uninstalled. There is also the Vivo V-Appstore and a few other Vivo apps, such as the browser, which keep sending notifications and cannot be deleted.
The Aura Light on the back can be used for notifications
However, you will find some useful features on the phone. An AI eraser tool is present in the Gallery app and works fine. You also get an AI Photo enhancement feature that is supposed to remove blur, beautify and reduce noise. However, he actually did a good job. You also get features like a smart sidebar for using the curved screen, dynamic light which uses Aura light to display notifications, ambient light effect which uses edge lighting for notifications and acts as a light show when playing music, and more.
The software experience on the phone is generally smooth, but unwanted notifications from built-in apps are quite annoying.
Vivo V40e performance: quite good
- SoC-MediaTek Dimensity 7300
- RAM – 8 GB LPDDR4X
- Storage – Up to 256 GB UFS 2.2
The MediaTek Dimensity 7300 on the V40e is a 4nm octa-core chipset paired with the MediaTek NPU 655 and an Arm Mali-G615 GPU. When it comes to regular use, I haven’t noticed any lag. Apps open quickly, multitasking is a hassle, and animations throughout the UI are smooth. The camera app also works perfectly and there is no major shutter lag. Overall, this phone is easy to recommend for everyday tasks.
Gaming isn’t a problem on the phone, and it doesn’t heat up much either
I ran a few tests to compare it with phones in a similar price range, and the numbers showed that the Vivo V40e performed worse in most cases. Of course, you should keep in mind that these criteria should not be taken literally, as actual usage of the words varies.
| Reference | V40e | OnePlus Nord 4 | Infinix Zero 40 | Nothing phone 2a Plus |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Geekbench 6 simple | 1,030 | 929 | 1,096 | 1,204 |
| Geekbench 6 Multi | 2,886 | 3,817 | 3,601 | 2,658 |
| AnTuTu v10 | 693,086 | 1,074,178 | 956 927 | 762,955 |
| PCMark Work 3.0 | 10,454 | 12,336 | 15,466 | 12,663 |
| 3DM Slingshot Extreme OpenGL | 5,090 | To the maximum | To the maximum | To the maximum |
| 3DM Slingshot | 6,492 | To the maximum | To the maximum | 7,243 |
| Wildlife 3DM | 3,140 | To the maximum | 6,362 | 4,779 |
| Unlimited 3DM wildlife | 3,154 | 11,588 | 6,454 | 5,038 |
| GFXBench T-Rex | 94 | 60 | 144 | 60 |
| GFXBench Manhattan 3.1 | 51 | 60 | 92 | 58 |
| GFXBench Car Chase | 29 | 60 | 52 | 35 |
The phone also performed smoothly while gaming and did not overheat even after a 45-minute session of BGMI. I played BGMI with HDR graphics and Ultra frame rate and didn’t notice any major lag. I also played Genshin Impact and COD on medium settings, and they generally performed well.
The phone has a dual-speaker setup, which is sufficient for indoor use. It doesn’t offer much bass, but there is a volume booster mode that increases the sound power. Calls and connectivity are also very good. Sound from the microphone and speaker was clear on both ends, and I didn’t notice any major network issues in my area.
Vivo V40e cameras: not the Pro they claim to be
- Main rear – 50 megapixels, OIS, Sony IMX882 sensor, f/1.79 aperture
- Secondary – 8-megapixel ultra-wide, f/2.2, 116-degree FoV
- Selfie – 50 megapixels, autofocus, f/2.0, 92 degree FoV
You get two rear cameras on the V40e and two different types of LED flash. The Aura light is primarily intended for portrait photos, but you can use it creatively as a fill light.
There are two different LED options available on the phone
The main camera is ideal for daytime photos, but can produce decent nighttime results. Photos offer good detail, color and white balance. Even low-light and adequately lit photos offer good detail, but with some noise.
The secondary camera, an 8-megapixel ultra-wide, is good for daylight photos, but you’ll notice some color inaccuracy between the two rear sensors. Low-light photos taken with the ultra-wide camera are blurry and have a watercolor effect.
I don’t know why Vivo markets it as a professional camera for portraits, since the phone doesn’t even have a depth sensor. It uses the main camera and you can choose between 1x or 2x crop. However, the results are quite good and you get a decent blurring effect, but the edge detection could have been better. The Aura light also allows you to take beautiful portrait photos at night.
Portrait taken with Aura Light activated
Moving to the front, the 50-megapixel Samsung JN1 sensor with autofocus does a good job with selfies. Skin tones are mostly accurate, colors look good, and there’s a good amount of detail. Selfies in low light aren’t that great, however.
Moving on to video, you can record in 4K 30fps from the main rear and front cameras. Stabilization is also available, which does a decent job of eliminating shake, but panning is choppy. Video quality is decent when there is plenty of light, with slightly boosted colors. However, I noticed that the dynamic range and white balance are all over the place.
Vivo V40e battery: impressive
- Capacity – 5,500 mAh
- Charging speed – 80W
- Charger – 80W in box
The battery performance of the Vivo V40e, as I mentioned in the subtitle, is impressive. The 5,500 mAh battery easily lasts a day and more with regular use. In our HD video loop test, the phone managed to last more than 32 hours on a single charge. This was with the refresh rate set to 120Hz. Few phones in this price segment can manage this.
Charging is a quick affair
Charging is quite fast thanks to the included 80W charger. A full charge from 0 to 100% took about an hour. Plus, it doesn’t heat up much when charging.
Vivo V40e verdict
While the Vivo V40e is definitely not the one for you if you’re looking for portrait photography, it’s something I’d recommend if you want incredible battery life and a beautiful design. The Royal Bronze option is easy on the eyes and the curved edges make the phone easy to hold. The phone also has a large, bright screen for most conditions. The sound output is decent, the main rear camera and the front camera are good during the day, and the performance is also quite decent.
Coming to the alternatives, you can go for the Nothing Phone 2a Plus (Review) if you want a more unique design and better performance. The OnePlus Nord 4 (Review) is also a great choice if you prefer better cameras and much higher performance. There is also the Infinix Zero 40 (Review), which offers much better performance and a good main rear camera.
